Although The Spirit had been involved in Western settings before (most notably in the 3 March 1946 story "The Feud") it would not be until 1948 that Eisner would put together a continuity placing Denny Colt in the Wild West.

The 10 October section introduced Sam Chapparell, a train robber who pulled his last job in 1867 before hiding out on a mysterious mountain. Chapparell reappears (looking the same age as when he left in 1867) in the small town of Lope and shoots the sheriff who dies but not before he calls out The Spirit. Travelling to the mountain, The Spirit finds Chapparell and his men and becomes involved in a showdown...

The next tale in this series appears in the 14 November section where The Spirit attempts to stake a claim for the mountains before the villainous Quirte and his gang. By the end of the section The Spirit has managed to secure his claim but Quirte escapes. The following weeks' section details Quirte's doomed attempt to escape...

(Quirte realising he has no water...)

The first two chapters of this trilogy are unusual in that it depicts The Spirit using guns...

The reason for the delay between the first and second part was the fact that Eisner only intended to do the single story, but when he received favourable mail on the October story he decided to produce some more stories in the same genre. As Eisner was only a few weeks ahead on continuity it was possible to put the second part in only five weeks after the first.

The three stories make an enjoyable series and it was a shame that Eisner did not return to tell any more stories of that mysterious mountain....

Western Spirit sections

10 October 1948 - "Gold"

14 November 1948 - "The Chapparell Lode"

21 November 1948 - "Quirte"